Bar Exam Study Guide
This document is entirely OOC. While it pertains to the SCLE's qualification purposes, it may also be generally useful to Law Roleplayers, so please feel free to use it! The barrister’s exam is not intended as an entry barrier to practice within the SCLE! Instead, it is a practice we use to help you prepare to interact well and meaningfully within a courtroom RP situation. This is our way of enhancing the courtroom experience. Why is it so important? Well, for multiple reasons. A trial conducted poorly will drag on and be dull and frustrating. A defendant poorly represented may have his continuing RP ruined! And you may feel lost and confused in the midst of words and concepts that may as well be Swahili for all that you understand them. None of that is fun, and this is a game; we should be having fun. So, for the sake of helping you make the most of your interaction with our courts and your fellow roleplayers, we have put together a certification exam, so you know you’re ready! Terminology Consistency is the soul of justice. Rules and laws should be applied equally across all persons, and those should be clear and easily satisfied. In order to ensure that clarity, a word will generally mean the same thing in all uses within a legal code or set of rules, and ideally across all codes and rules. At the beginning of every code and ruleset, you will find a Definitions section, that will clarify the exact meaning of the words used. These words should be kept as close to their common meanings as possible, but when a precise meaning is required, that precise meaning will be given. Additionally, within the practice of law, there are terms of art that are used as a sort of shorthand. Among those terms are those listed in the Vocabulary section below. Your barrister’s exam will contain two questions regarding terminology. Vocabulary * Burden of proof: The obligation to make an affirmative case, such that if this case is not made, the court must rule against that party. Typically, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution in a criminal cause, or on the plaintiff of a civil cause. * Circumstantial evidence: Evidence which, if taken as true on its face, does not directly prove the fact at issue. For example, almost all physical and scientific evidence is circumstantial, as testimony is required to verify that it is relevant. Some testimony is circumstantial as well, such as testimony that one saw the defendant preparing to commit a crime, or fleeing from the scene, but the witness did not see the crime committed. * Civil cause: A claim by a private citizen that the defendant has violated his rights under law or contract. The justice being sought is restoration of the private citizen to his condition before the violation, or as near to it as possible. Return of property or an award of money or other items of value are typically attached to a finding of liability. The standard of proof for a civil cause is the “preponderance of evidence”. * Criminal cause: A claim by the Crown that the defendant has violated a law of the land. The justice being sought is the punishment of the defendant, vindicating the rights of the victim and deterring future violations. Jail time and fines are typically attached to a finding of guilt. The standard of proof for a criminal cause is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. * The Crown: A general term that refers to the government under a monarchy, and its agents. Often used as shorthand for the Kingdom of Stormwind as a party in a case. * Direct evidence: Evidence which, if taken as true on its face, would constitute proof of the fact at issue. For example, testimony that alleges having seen the defendant commit the crime, or a confession from the defendant or a co-conspirator. * Elements of a crime: The specific parts of a crime, as defined under law, without which there is no offense. Every element must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order for a finding of guilty to be made. If the prosecution fails to prove any element, the case must be dismissed. * Finder of fact: The person or persons called upon to make an official determination of the facts, and rule on the proper handling. This generally includes arbitrators, judges, and juries. * Hearsay: As defined in Rule of Evidence 801(c), hearsay is the speaker’s words delivered secondhand, but offered as evidence. There are specific exceptions to that definition (Rule 802). It is generally inadmissible, except under specific circumstances as described in Rules 804 and 805. * Standard of proof: The required threshold of proof in order to make a finding against a party. ** For a civil cause, this is the “preponderance of evidence”, meaning that it is more likely than not that the liable party is at fault. ** For a criminal cause, it is “beyond a reasonable doubt”, meaning that there is no other logical explanation that can be derived from the facts presented but that the defendant committed the crime. Principles of Law Your barrister's examination will contain two questions regarding principles of law. There may be follow-up questions to clarify or refine your answer. Some of the potential topics are covered below. Law is a creature of order: it is both an expression of the order that a society regards as essential, and a tool for creating, sustaining, and enforcing it. That enforcement is also an expression of how vital the particular point of order is to society; severity in sentencing should indicate just how "bad" the behavior was, in the eyes of its civilization. The SCLE formulates its approach to Stormwind Law based on certain real-life models, primarily the Western legal culture, as Blizzard has seen fit to base Stormwind itself on traditional fantasy models that correspond. Western legal culture is characterized strongly by its recognition of the value and importance of the individual, who is invested with rights by some Higher Power (usually God) that shall not be abridged by mere mortals or our machinations. Rights vs. Privileges, and Rights vs. the Law Though it is frequently assumed in our modern world that rights are something granted by the government, more traditional approaches hold that to be an upside-down approach. Rights, being innate, are recognized rather than given, and are a mandate to the government to stay its hand; it is privilege that is granted, the legal permission to do something that would be otherwise unlawful. So, when the SCLE refers to a right, that right overrides all laws and rules. This brings us to the supremacy of laws, under the SCLE's formulation. The following each have overriding authority over the items below them: # Rights; # The king's decree; # Laws (such as the Criminal Code or the Laws of Stormwind); # Judicial precedent; # Rules (such as the Rules of Criminal Procedure). Since rights hold the highest authority, we formulate our rules, laws, and procedures to accommodate those, both IC and OOC. Put it in Writing One of the rights we embrace is the right to have a fair and just trial. Not only is this because all RP is ultimately voluntary and demands consent on an OOC level, but because a person deserves to have a legitimate shot at winning the game. In the end, the SCLE's courts are just a game-within-a-game, after all. In order to make things just and on the level, we maintain a system of written records. Though we try to keep them as minimal as possible--because paperwork is boring and RP is supposed to be fun--there must be a base level of recordkeeping so that everything is public and open, and allows the adversarial players as much of an even shot as possible given the facts of the case. It also gives the RP more permanence and presence for the players; instead of it being some vague thing that happened in the past, there are genuine documents that make it "real" for anyone, not just the people involved. On a more practical level for the RP, it helps to preserve facts. Everything in a trial is based upon the facts that you can present: witness statements, past sworn admissions, expert testimony. With a written record to refer back to, you don't have to quibble over whether someone said something and how he or she said it. For those things where there must be paperwork, the SCLE maintains a set of forms. Those can be found in the Legal Forms Book. Innocent Until Proven Guilty The court is powerless to do anything to a person unless the burden of proof is met. In essence, the courts' natural state is inertia: unmoved and unmoving unless acted upon. Your job, as a barrister, is to do that acting for your client. This principle also means that it is the job of the prosecution or the plaintiff to give the court enough evidence and enough reason to act, before the defense is called upon to do anything other than poke holes in the presented case. Think of it like offense and defense in a football game: Defense's primary job is to just keep Offense out of the end zone; Offense has to actually pick up the ball and run with it. Testimony Wins Except under very limited circumstances, a court cannot consider any evidence that isn't presented to it, and that method of presentation is via testimony. Even in the case of concrete evidence--such as a murder weapon or photographs--justice requires that testimony be used to establish where the evidence came from and why it is relevant. The reason for this is because a defendant has a right to challenge evidence presented against him or her. Simply plunking an object on the judge's desk and saying, "Here is a thing, I promise it's important," is not something that can be logically challenged. Using testimony and questioning helps firmly establish the evidence's significance and explains to the magistrate why the thing should be considered. Relevant to My Interests The court is a tool, a path by which to get to the truth and to see that people are justly treated under the law. Such being the case, a court should not consider anything that doesn't relate to the case at hand. Very simply put: The court is here to do one thing; don't waste the magistrate's time with other things. Mercy and Its Limits While sentencing practices are fairly standardized according to the nature and severity of the offense, every case is different. Some facts indicate that a stricter penalty is called for, and others demand that leniency be extended, in order for complete justice to be as nearly approached as possible. Within sentencing practices, aggravating and mitigating factors can--and should--be applied to adjust the sentence. Research It goes without saying that knowing and correctly applying the laws to your case's theory is key in victory. The skills you'll need to accomplish this are the ability to find the laws and rules quickly, and the ability to parse them and interpret them to see what they require. Ideally, most of the SCLE's operations will be plug-and-play--simple enough to be intuitive. But the cases themselves will have their own sets of facts, and in order to get the best outcome for your team, you need to be able to fit the facts and laws together as flawlessly as possible and know which rules apply. It isn't necessary to memorize rules and laws, if you can research well and quickly! Your barrister's examination will contain two questions that call upon your ability to locate information, process it, and explain it. There may be follow-up questions to clarify or refine your answer. Finding the Relevant Law The first things you need in order to begin your research journey are a solid understanding of the principles that guide the laws, and a solid vocabulary. With those, it's just a matter of details. These details are located in the various codes and rulesets you can find in the Law Library. You'll go to one of these based on the information you're trying to locate: * Stormwind Criminal Code or Laws of Stormwind: for the actual laws that govern whether your client's behavior can be punished; * Stormwind Rules of Criminal Procedure: for the rules that govern how a criminal trial should proceed, and the things that need to happen to get to the trial; * Stormwind Rules of Evidence: for the rules that determine whether a witness statement or other evidence can be considered by the court, and how to get them before the court; * Sentencing Guidelines: for a general idea of how any given offense should be sentenced on a finding of guilt. Reading the Relevant Law: Criminal Statutes Any given criminal law is made up of its "elements": conditions that, when all of them exist at once, make the conduct being prosecuted into a crime. The key to knowing if a law has been violated is to match the facts of the case to those elements. For example, let's break down the crime of murder, per the Stormwind Criminal Code: Example: 601. Murder. A person commits an offense if he: # Intentionally or knowingly # Causes the death of a sapient individual. Murder is a felony in the first degree. Obviously, the elements of murder are the mens rea--the level of intent you know or can reasonably infer--and the act itself with its outcome. If you cannot prove both of these things, there is no crime. Killing a horse is not murder. Accidentally killing someone is not murder. Additionally, a criminal statute can be modified or overridden by another. For instance, a law that specifies a defense to a crime--such as self-defense or having a lawful authorization to kill the person--means that no matter if the elements are satisfied, a crime has not been committed. Legal defenses are broken down similarly to criminal statutes: if the conditions are satisfied, the law applies. Reading the Relevant Law: Rules Rules are necessarily more technical; they're not only the written basis for any given legal procedure, but instructions to the barristers and magistrate on how to follow those procedures through for a fair and just trial. The rulesets are much more subject to change than the laws, so as to accommodate the needs of RP and the community, so check often for updates. Rules can also be broken down into their constituent elements very readily; in this case, think of them as "requirements" rather than elements. The Rules of Criminal Procedure are organized into several large rules, each applying to specific judicial functions. Those rules are subdivided further for more specificity. The Rules of Evidence are divided into articles, applying to different types of evidence and conditions that govern whether the evidence can and should be considered by the court. Those articles are subdivided into the rules themselves. Reading the Commentaries: Cheating But it's a good kind of cheating, like an open-book exam. At the foot of every law and (eventually) rule page set out by the SCLE, you'll find a set of OOC commentaries meant to help clarify how they are supposed to be used (or not used). They also include a rundown of any process proposed by a rule. They're not the complete text of the rule or law, but they should help increase your understanding of the thing in terms of the bigger picture. Application All of this means nothing if you can't put it into practice. As a barrister, your role is to ensure that the laws and rules apply to your client in a meaningful sense, whether you're a prosecutor, a plaintiff's representative, or defense counsel--and to do that, you have to be able to move the court to act or refrain from acting, accordingly. During your bar exam, you'll be asked to follow a process, apply the law or rules to a set of facts, or construct a case from the perspective of the prosecution or defense. Your barrister's exam will contain two questions that will test your ability to apply the rules and laws. They may require that you alt-tab to a form on Google Docs. Helpful References Also known as "things you definitely need to target in your studies": Rule 9: Trial structure and procedure Rules of Evidence around witness testimony Rules of Evidence around relevanceCategory:Information Category:Barrister Qualifications